Triatel
Edited by:
Massimo Martini
Access
To get to Triatel, leave the motorway at the Châtillon-Saint-Vincent tollbooth, continue to Antey-Saint-André and up the regional road to Torgnon. From the main town, follow the signs for Petit-Monde, Triatel and Etirol on the municipal road, passing by narrow hairpin bends and the ski lifts. There is a small car park in the village of Etirol, but if spaces are full, you can park in Moulin. The village is not served by direct public transport, so it is advisable to use private vehicles and to check the road conditions and seasonal parking, especially in winter. The pedestrian access is also a pleasant opportunity to admire the Valtournenche landscape, with its forests, meadows and ancient mule tracks.
Introduction
The village of Triatel is located in the Petit-Monde area, in the municipality of Torgnon, in the Valtournenche region of Valle d'Aosta. Situated at 1,604 metres above sea level, it now has few residents and stands out for its significant historical and environmental value, celebrated as a cultural and landscape asset pursuant to Legislative Decree 490/99. The context in which it is located is typically mountainous, characterised by open relief and a landscape in which human presence has been shaped in harmony with traditional agricultural and pastoral needs. The location of the village, perched on a sunny ridge, has ensured protection from avalanches and the availability of water over the centuries, thus favouring the community's permanence during the most difficult periods. The history of Triatel reflects the typical parabola of rural Alpine communities: in the late Middle Ages, the village was built and organised according to criteria of natural defence and rational exploitation of local resources. Over the course of the 20th century, there has been a progressive depopulation that has led from around 80 inhabitants in 1960 to only 6 residents in 2012, jeopardising both the material and immaterial preservation of this heritage of Alpine culture.
Description
In response to the progressive abandonment and the risk of losing a precious architectural and social fabric, the municipality of Torgnon, together with the regional administration and thanks to various funding programmes, launched a recovery project that, from 1993 onwards, has allowed the restoration of historic buildings such as the 'grange', the 'grenier' and the 'raccard a terraced house'. These typical wood and stone buildings, dating from between the 15th and 17th centuries, were used for grain preservation, storage and processing of agricultural products. The interior spaces, divided into compartments known as 'tsé', testify to the communal division of goods and the strong sense of cooperation that characterised the mountain civilisation. The restoration of these rooms led to the creation, in 2004, of the Petit-Monde Ethnographic Museum, which guides the visitor on a journey through the various seasons and activities of mountain life: the working of fields and hay, animal husbandry, bread and dairy production, forestry and carpentry. Of particular interest is the reconstruction of the typical domestic environment (péillo), as well as the old kitchen where bread was dried and stored. The current layout of the village invites us to reflect on the meaning of the 'place of memory', where material culture becomes a thread for reading the customs, knowledge, gestures and rituals of a community that has now almost disappeared.
The Triatel enhancement project has gone through various funding instruments at regional, national and European level. These include the Regional Employment Investment Fund (F.R.I.O.), the Objective 2 Programme (Phasing Out), the Aosta Valley Rural Development Plan 2007/2013, and the Italy-Switzerland Cross-Border Cooperation Programme, which have contributed significant funds to the restoration of the buildings, the restoration of the internal road network, fences, water and energy networks, and the creation of multimedia stations and educational trails. Today, the village is visited by around 2,700 visitors a year, mainly through guided tours of the ethnographic museum in the summer months or by appointment, confirming its new vocation as a centre of cultural and tourist interest.
Information
A visit to the village and its museum is particularly recommended in the summer months, when it is open at regular times, while during the year it is possible to enter by appointment.
- Altitude: 1.597m
- Name in dialect: Triatel
- Name in local dialect: -
- Patron Saint: -
Points of interest
- Triatel Chapel
- Museum of Petit Monde